Dylan Barstow never expected to be wandering the jungle of Papua New Guinea the summer before eighth grade, but stealing a car has its consequences. After screwing up one time too many, Dylan is sent to finish the summer with his uncle, Todd, an ex-marine determined to teach his nephew respect and discipline. If that weren't bad enough, Dylan's uncle is forcing him to be part of a PNG search team looking for the wreckage of the Second Ace, a B-17 bomber that his grandfather flew in WWII. Feeling angry and misunderstood, Dylan strikes out into the dense jungle alone and quickly loses his way, realizing this time that his foolishness might cost him his life. Reverent in tone, Mikaelsen's novel offers harrowing accounts of veterans' war experiences that are brought home by Dylan's struggles, both in the jungle and in everyday life. Only after confronting isolation, poisonous snakes, and crippling hunger does Dylan truly understand the value of freedom and his own capacity for change.

Stealing a car sends disobedient seventh grader Dylan to Papua New Guinea with ex-marine Uncle Todd in search of a downed WWII bomber flown by Dylan's grandfather. Defiant Dylan separates from the search team and finds himself in perilous jungle surroundings where survival requires suspension of his arrogant, impulsive attitude. Despite some predictability, adventure and pathos combine for a satisfying story.

Gr 5-8 Dylan Barstow steals a junkyard car for a joyride, landing him in jail, and exasperating his widowed mom. The seventh grader is sent off with Uncle Todd, who is assembling a search team to find Second Ace , Grandpa Henry's B-17 bomber that crashed in the jungles of Papua New Guinea (PNG) during World War II. Dylan's own journalist father died in Darfur, on a peacekeeping mission, and he has yet to come to terms with the loss. The protagonist begins reading Grandpa Henry's journal that chronicles the Japanese aerial attack on Second Ace , and learns that a trek to PNG promises malaria, headhunters, crocs, snakes, and rats-plus an airplane wreck with the probable bones of his grandfather's crewmen. Despite Todd's patience with his nephew, the boy flushes his malaria pills down the toilet and is antagonistic toward the search team. Dylan wanders too far away from camp, and his irresponsibility is the beginning of a survival tale rivaling Grandpa Henry's own. In scenes reminiscent of the his Touching Spirit Bear (HarperCollins, 2001), Mikaelsen calls up native spirits. In this case "Kanzi" appears as a young girl who guides Dylan to the plane wreckage and keep him safe, albeit suffering from malaria, leeches, and gangrene. Dylan's attitude adjustment is predictable, but not too maudlin, and is offset by realistic skepticism from Uncle Todd. The details of war and jungle dangers will make this a good addition to middle grade adventure survival collections. Vicki Reutter, State University of New York at Cortland